tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 16 14:17:14 1995
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Re: easy sentences
- From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: easy sentences
- Date: Mon, 16 Jan 95 17:17:01 EST
- In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>; from "Marc Ruehlaender" at Jan 16, 95 8:47 am
According to Marc Ruehlaender:
>
> I finally made up my mind and tried to translate
> some "easy" sentences. I would like to know:
> - are they grammatically correct?
> - do they convey the intended meaning?
> - are there better ways to do this?
>
> 1. This is a book.
> paq 'oH Dochvam'e'.
Fine.
> I think, in most cases paq 'oH will suffice,
> however I wanted to preserve the demonstrative
> meaning
>
> 2. This suitcase is mine.
> DochwIj 'oH lengwI' ngaSwI'vam'e'.
I believe that Okrand used {tep} in Conversational Klingon, but
I'm not sure. Realize that the term "cargo" would include both
the carrier AND its contents, while your statement might be
answered by the guards dumping out the contents and giving you
back your empty container, which you seemed to want. Meanwhile,
your term DOES kinda sound like a small cage for one traveler.
Anyway, I'd just say {tepwIj 'oH Dochvam'e'}.
> I don't expect lengwI' ngaSwI' to be
> misinterpreted as "box _for_ travellers"
>
> 3. The children are asleep.
> Qong(choH) puqpu'.
The {-choH} would indicate that the children just fell asleep.
Otherwise, {QongtaH puqpu'} might serve well enough.
> 4. This book is for you.
> SohvaD nob 'oH paqvam'e'.
Good rendering.
> 5. This is where I work.
> DaqvamDaq jIvum.
It would be much better to use {naDev} than {DaqvamDaq}.
> 6. There was a large crowd.
> DaqvetlhDaq ghom'a' tIn tu'lu'.
It would be much better to use {pa'} than {DaqvetlhDaq}. This
is a fine use of {tIn}. Also, this would more accurately be
something like, "A large crowd was over there," since your
English sentence sounds too much like the more idiomatic,
"There was an old woman who lived in a shoe..." which has
nothing to do with "there" as a specific location.
> Does tIn work this way?
> (Tense would have to be specified by context.)
>
> 7. It was impossible to go further.
> DuHbe' Duvqa'ghach.
This might work, but it sounds cranked a little towards being
idiomatic to English. I'd expect something more like
{maDuvqa'laHbe'}. Klingons tend to like to describe the action
less in the abstract ("to go further"? For WHO to go further?)
and more in the concrete. The verb {DuH} belongs more to nouns
like {Qu'} than to verb phrases packed into noun forms.
> 8. It was a pity the weather was so bad.
> QaHHa'laHpu' SuSmey. vaj moghnISlu'.
"The wind was able to hinder. So one needs to be frustrated."?
HoSqu'mo' SuS maDo'Ha'.
"Because the wind was strong, we were unlucky."
or
SuS HoSqu'mo' maDo'Ha'.
"Because of strong wind, we were unlucky."
I'm not certain whether or not {SuS} is a word that would
normally be pluralized. Does it refer to a single gust, or to
wind in general?
> I would especially like to see a translation
> of "it's a pity" or something like that.
> For the weather, I thought bad winds would
> probably be most inconvenient to the hunter.
>
> Thank you for your help.
>
> Marc 'Doychlangan'
>
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Marc Ruehlaender [email protected]
> Universitaet des Saarlandes, Saarbruecken, Germany
> ----------------------------------------------------
charghwI'
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